Life expectancy tables for dogs and cats derived from clinical data

Area of Science:

• Veterinary epidemiology
• Population health studies in companion animals

Background:

• Limited availability of recent, methodologically sound life expectancy (LE) data for dogs and cats.
• Need for comprehensive LE tables to inform veterinary care and pet owner decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generate robust LE tables for dogs and cats using a large clinical dataset.
• To analyze LE variations based on sex, body size (dogs), and body condition score (BCS).

Main Methods:

• Utilized Sullivan's method on clinical records from over 1,000 Banfield Pet hospitals (2013-2019).
• Dataset included over 13 million dogs and 2.3 million cats.
• LE calculated for overall populations, by survey year, and by subpopulations (sex, dog size, BCS).

Main Results:

• Life expectancy at birth (LE_birth) for dogs was 12.69 years and for cats was 11.18 years.
• Smaller dog breeds exhibited higher LE_birth compared to larger breeds.
• Female dogs and cats had significantly higher LE_birth than males.
• Optimal body condition scores (BCS 3/5 for dogs, BCS 4/5 for cats) were associated with increased LE_birth compared to obese or overweight conditions.

Conclusions:

• The generated LE tables offer valuable insights for veterinary professionals and pet owners.
• Findings highlight the influence of sex, size, and BCS on pet longevity.
• These LE tables serve as a foundation for future research, including disease-specific LE analyses.